All the Devils' hottest news, from notes to numbers to neutral-zone traps

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Devils coach Pete DeBoer said that right wing Ilya Kovalchuk skated on his own earlier today and has not had any setback with his right shoulder injury.

Kovalchuk was not going to accompany the team to Toronto today anyway or play in Monday's game against the Maple Leafs.

“We tried to get a reasonable number of guys on the ice for practice that were healthy and able to play without getting too many,” DeBoer said.

Kovalchuk will miss his 10th game in a row with the injury he sustained on March 23 against Florida, but DeBoer said he’s still “moving in a positive direction.”

“But not good enough to play, so we’re not going to bring him (to Toronto),” DeBoer said.

Defenseman Bryce Salvador also will not travel to Toronto and will mis his second game in a row with a bruised right wrist.

Backup goaltender Johan Hedberg will be going with the team to Toronto to serve as the back up Monday night behind Martin Brodeur. Hedberg revealed that he had been battling a sore groin for about a month and that his absence the last two games was not related to the collision he was in during Tuesday's practice.

Hedberg's back hit the goal frame during that collision. He said his groin soreness was not related to the collision.

“It wasn’t the back,” Hedberg said. “I had a little problem with my groin. It’s been hanging around for a little bit and it was all right. There was no problem and then something happened during practice and it just got worse. Now it feels better.”

Hedberg wasn't sure when he initially injured his groin.

“I did something a few weeks back, maybe a month back,” Hedberg said. “We treated it, I felt good and I had no problems. But it came back again.”

Hedberg skated on his own Saturday and skated again this morning by himself before joining the team for practice in the afternoon.

“It felt good,” he said. "I haven’t had a problem with a groin (in a while). I remember in ’95 I had a sore groin once."

Keith Kinkaid, who has been serving as Brodeur's backup in Hedberg's absence, will not be going with the team to Toronto and apparently will be going back to Albany.

***Right wing David Clarkson said he was fine today after not practicing Saturday for what DeBoer called a “maintenance day.”

“It was a short practice too and it was just the power play,” Clarkson. “So, I just took the day to relax. It was a bit of rough day there.”

Clarkson was caught in the head by a shoulder hit from Ottawa’s Zack Smith in the second period of Friday’s game and fought Smith immediately afterward.

“I didn’t know who hit me there,” Clarkson said. “I thought it was an elbow originally, but I saw the replay. Even if a shoulder hits a head like that, I couldn’t see him coming, but I don’t think it looked as dirty as I thought when I saw it on the video. But I definitely wasn’t ready for it.”

Clarkson also received five stitches to his lower lip for a cut he suffered in a battle at the end of the game.

About

TOM GULITTI has covered the New Jersey Devils for The Record since 2002. Prior to that, he covered the New York Rangers for four years. Gulitti joined The Record in 1998 after six years at The North Jersey Herald News. He graduated from Binghamton University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric-Literature.